In the field of seating structures for human body, particularly bicycle saddles, car seats or chairs in general, comfort of such structures is increasingly desired.
For this purpose, it is important for the user to customize the type of seat and especially to adapt its configuration to his/her physical needs, and particularly to his/her body conformation.
It is equally important to adapt the seat element to user positions and to the different conditions of use. For instance, in the specific case of a bicycle, the position of a user is related to the speed he/she desires to maintain during cycling. Therefore, particular advantages may be derived from adapting the seat type to particular needs, e.g. by varying the saddle width, in a simple manner and without making substantial changes to the whole structure.
As is known in the art, the element that forms the seat proper, and is designed to contact the human body, is generally connected to a lower support structure by connection systems, which are typically non removable. In common bicycles, for example, the seat element is joined by gluing or stitching to the shell that forms the support structure connected to the bicycle frame.
A drawback of this solution is that changes cannot be or are not easily made to the seat configuration to customize it and adapt it to the user's needs. For example, a common bicycle saddle, as well as its seat post, must be wholly replaced. Therefore, a number of saddle—seat post assemblies have to be available, which involves problems associated to the cost of these assemblies, and to the bulk thereof.
In an attempt to overcome such drawback, a number of different solutions have been provided, in which the seat element is able to be disengaged, at least partially, from the structure that connects it to the frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,396 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,634 disclose bicycle saddles, in which the upper saddle element is only partly disengageable from the saddle frame to control shock absorbing properties, e.g. by inserting or removing internal shock-absorbing elements.
While these solutions allow partial adaptation of the seat, they still have the drawback of limiting customization, and particularly of preventing saddle width variations. Furthermore, the insertion of elements beneath the saddle may affect comfort thereof, in case of imperfect coupling with the upper element.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,760 discloses a bicycle saddle having a second outer cover element to change the seat type.
This solution provides a very little seat customization potential and further requires the use of an element that is substantially foreign to the original structure, and cannot ensure perfect integration therewith and comfort.